As the Americana songs creep in you can start to hear how unnecessary Mickey is becoming. Giving way to 70/71 with more Americana and less freaky late 60s and what is imo is that somewhat awkward phase before Bill successfully streamlined the drum parts.

chipping rocks. Pigpen !
an excellent Easy Wind.

When the longest song is Dancin' at just under 15 min, you know it isn't a jamming show. Basically, by this point, they had stopped playing Caboose and almost stopped playing The Eleven, so if there's no Dark Star, Other One, Alligator, Midnight Hour, or Lovelight, there aren't going to be long jams. Even so, the quality of the play comes through -- they were a pretty tight outfit at that time.

I'll get the fucking microphone!!!!

Isn't that Pig shouting during "Good Lovin'"? Seemed like an extra-groovy version after that. Music to soothe the savage Pigpen!

Here it is folks, the Grateful Dead in their final New Years Eve run outside the SF bay area. Bringing a west coast chill with the Rain & Snow opener, the boys move through to a nice Mama Tried. After Bobby stops 'buzzing' things really begin to cook. I love this Peter, so focused, but Easy features some sweet Pig, and is probably one of my favorites. Uncle returns them to a tight romp and warm up for a fun China/Rider. The boys light up Back Bay & Copley with a very hot High Time, HtH & Mason. Wow! Then something strange happens during Good Lovin, which sets the mood for the 4**** remainder.

Captain Trips: "There's nothing to see up here, it's only us. Holy F%*k !"

The guy that grabbed the microphone was yellin at the audience to get up and dance. Then he threw the mic, stand and all, into the crowd. It landed at my feet, as I recall...

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5 Stars for the mix
5 Stars for the recording
5 Stars for the performance

I recommend adding this show to your 1969 GRATEFUL DEAD collection.

Hey man, this show has a fourteen minute and fiftytwo second version of "Dancing In The Streets". It goes into space and comes back...

Warning...around 35 seconds into the second part of "Good Lovin'", some guy grabs the microphone and screams "I'll get the F@#%ing microphone"...then it's taken away or something...
and a very strange version of Good Lovin' ensues...

FYI: The Internet Archive recommends RealPlayer for users of Windows XP.

RealPlayer comes with a free 3 band equalizer for "playback" so you can adjust the sound to your liking while streaming or downloading.

After you've downloaded the song, open it up in your Windows Media Player and use its 10 band EQ to adjust the sound for playback. I highly recommend using EQ on these old recordings.

Eat, Drink, Be Merry and Listen to the GRATEFUL DEAD.

Thanks for the Love

Glad to see more of these Boston NYE 69 shows surfacing with decent quality recordings. Thick TC keyboard runs abound. The vocals are up a little too high, but given the age of the show it can be easily overlooked. On the plus side, it makes listening to 'Mason's Children' even more of a treat. Enjoy!